BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Police launched a manhunt in Barcelona on Thursday for a fugitive. Carles Puigdemonta well-known activist for Catalan independence who made a dramatic return to Spain and an equally dramatic escape from a speech in the city with the alleged help of local police officers.
The events came nearly seven years after Catalonia’s former leader fled Spain after a failed bid for independence, with a public arrest warrant out for him.
Puigdemont was Previously announced The former Catalan prime minister announced his intention to be in Spain on the day the Catalan parliament elected a new president. The 61-year-old initially lived in Belgium after fleeing Spain in 2017, but his final whereabouts were unknown.
Puigdemont kept his travel plans secret before heading to the wealthy. Catalan region In northeastern Spain, he gave a speech to a large crowd of supporters in central Barcelona under the noses of police, who made no attempt to arrest him.
Associated Press correspondent Karen Shamas reports on the defiant return of a former Catalan leader to Spain nearly seven years after he fled.
After his speech, Puigdemont entered a nearby tent, where he quickly exited through an exit and jumped into a waiting car, according to an Associated Press photographer who witnessed his departure.
Catalan police have arrested two of their officers on suspicion of involvement in Puigdemont’s escape, suspecting the former leader used a private car belonging to one of them, the force’s press office told The Associated Press. No further details were available.
After Puigdemont’s disappearance, Catalan police – known as the Mossos d’Esquadra – searched vehicles across the city of about 1.6 million people and other motorways heading to neighboring France in an attempt to catch him. The searches were called off hours later.
Puigdemont later posted a video of his speech on Instagram with the message: “We are still here. Long live a free Catalonia.”
Police said in a statement that officers initially refrained from raiding the scene to arrest Puigdemont for fear that the move would “cause public disorder.” They said officers tried to stop the fleeing vehicle but were unable to do so, although they added that more arrests were expected. The statement did not provide further details.
The Catalan police force operates separately from the Spanish national police. At the time of the 2017 vote, the Spanish government suspended the chief of police and placed the force under investigation for failing to prevent the vote. The chief and his staff were eventually acquitted.
Puigdemont faces embezzlement charges for his role in the attempted coup. To break Catalonia from the rest of Spain in 2017. As regional president and leader of the separatist party at the time, he was a key player in an independence referendum that was banned by the central government but went ahead anyway.
These events led to a political crisis that rocked Spain for several months.
Puigdemont’s appearance in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, and the cat-and-mouse game he played with the police stole the spotlight on a day when a new president was being announced in the regional parliament.
Local police were deployed in a security ring around a section of the park where the Catalan parliament building is located behind walls, where Puigdemont was expected to go after his speech. Meanwhile, the politician, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and tie, walked with his supporters to the nearby theater where he gave his speech.
In a speech to the crowds in the park, Puigdemont accused the Spanish authorities of “repression” of the Catalan separatist movement.
“We have been persecuted for the last seven years because we wanted to hear the voice of the Catalan people. They have made being Catalan something suspicious,” Puigdemont said.
“All peoples have the right to self-determination,” he added.
This dramatic turn of events, which was broadcast live on Spanish television, is likely to spark political accusations.
The leader of the Popular Party, the main opposition to Spain’s centre-left coalition government that has long rejected the Catalan independence movement, condemned Puigdemont’s return. Alberto Nunez Feijoo wrote on the X website that Puigdemont’s return was an “unbearable insult” that damaged Spain’s reputation.
The Spanish government has encouraged an agreement after months of deadlock between the Catalan Socialists led by Salvador Illa and the other main Catalan separatist party, the Republican Left. The deal secured enough support in Catalonia’s parliament for Illa to become the next regional president on Thursday with a majority of 68 votes in the 135-seat assembly.
The new Illa government is the first non-independence government in 14 years, since the Socialist Party of the Philippines last took power.
Speaking to Catalan lawmakers before the vote, Illa called for reconciliation and respect for a controversial amnesty bill that could clear Puigdemont of wrongdoing but is being challenged in court. Illa pledged to rule for all Catalans after years of bitter divisions between pro- and anti-independence supporters.
Puigdemont has devoted his career to building a new state in northeastern Spain, and has often shown contempt for the authorities. His hardline approach has led to political conflict with other separatist parties as well as with Spain’s central government.
A controversial amnesty bill drawn up by Spain’s Socialist-led coalition government could exonerate hundreds of Catalan independence supporters of wrongdoing in the 2017 referendum. The referendum was declared illegal by Spain’s central government and constitutional court at the time.
But the bill, Approved by the Spanish Parliament Earlier this year, he challenge by supreme court Judges who say his rulings should not protect Puigdemont from prosecution for embezzlement.
Puigdemont could be placed in pre-trial detention if arrested.
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Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Associated Press photojournalist Emilio Morenatti in Barcelona and writer Teresa Medrano in Madrid contributed to this report.
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